Why this book?

The book’s author, Mindy Eisenberg, has been a yoga instructor and therapist since 2004. Her mother had a progressive form of MS and relied on a wheelchair for mobility. Eisenberg saw adaptive yoga as a way to improve her mother’s health and quality of life. Students in Eisenberg’s Yoga Moves MS classes wanted materials to help them practice yoga at home. This book was born from the efforts to honor that request.

What’s in the book?

In the first chapter, Eienberg discusses yoga and adaptive yoga specifically. She dispels the myth that you have to be flexible to do yoga, and explains that yoga is not about “fancy poses.” I’ll list the chapters here to give you an idea of how the book is structured.

Chapter 2: How to Use This Book

Chapter 3: Yoga Moves Guiding principles

Chapter 4: Breath Practice

Chapter 5: Alignment for Life

Chapter 6: Warm Up, Tune Up, and Loosen Up

Chapter 7: Adaptive Poses

Chapter 8: Hand Gestures

Chapter 9: Playful Empowering and Healing Sequences

At the end of the book you’ll find definitions of terms, a bibliography, resources, and suggested readings. The book’s index is helpful if you’re looking to find information about a specific pose or concept.

If you want a quick primer on what adaptive yoga is all about, I recommend you read the chapter on guiding principles. The chapter on breath practices is also easy to access and doesn’t require much of a time commitment. The book’s section on adaptive poses is useful if you need to ease your way into asanas that are difficutl to perform.

My take

I think this book is a useful resource for people who are new to yoga and need to learn adaptive poses to practice the activity. If you’re like me and you want to get right to the poses, you may find that the book requires too much reading.

There is a series of videos to complement the book available on the Yoga Moves MS website. They’re $5.00 a piece to download and should appeal to those who have trouble taking direction from photos and text only.

This kitty has mastered Adho Mukha Shvanasana (downward-facing dog).

What about you?

Do you practice yoga? Got any favorite yoga books or videos? Please do leave a comment.